With summer just around the corner, finding fun ways to keep the girls’ minds active is very important. Keep it fun is even more important…especially when working on fractions!

Figuring out fractions can be a challenge! This competitive game will help your child evaluate the differences between fractions, from largest to smallest. Your child will become more comfortable converting, comparing, and using fractions after just a few rounds. Using a calculator can be a big help, especially if the values of the fractions are complex. This game is great for a rainy day and when your child needs a different setting to practice fractions. It’s quick and easy to set up, so let’s dive in!

What You Need:

Deck of cards with the face cards (jacks, queens, and kings) removed

Construction paper (any color)

Black marker

Pencil

Scratch paper

Calculator

What You Do:

Have one of the players create a game board by turning a piece of construction paper horizontal, or landscape. Trace two rows of three cards, with space in between. In between both rows, draw a greater than symbol (>).

Ask one of the players to shuffle the cards and deal 6 of them face up in the spaces on the board. Place them down in the order they are dealt from top to bottom and left to right.

Explain that the numbers on the top are the numerators, and the numbers on the bottom are denominators. Each player should determine if the statement that their cards make is true (based on the x > y > z game board). The fractions should decrease in value when moving left to right.

If they need to, players can use the calculator and divide the numerator by the denominator to find the decimal value of the fraction. The calculator will be especially helpful with complex fractions.

If the statement is correct, the player gets a point. Play moves to the next player.

My 10-year-old gives me hope. She shows more humility, grace and dignity than some adults I know.

On Sunday, Rachel started Volleyball training with VolleyGirls, they junior group of Halton Volleyball Club who’s team is the Hurricanes. She has shown an interest in volleyball so we have tried to nurture it.

She did a small volleyball session with the Oakville Parks and Rec and she really enjoyed it. When our babysitter recommended VolleyGirls, we looked into it. The sessions fit into our already busy schedule.

On Sunday, I had asked about volleyball at school and she said that the tryouts had already happened. Rachel said that she didn’t think that she could play because she had already committed to being a lunch monitor. (Rachel volunteers in the JK/SK classroom at lunch to help the younger kids with opening containers and stuff like that.)

I really couldn’t fault her for being true to her commitments. But I tried to explain that there might be a way for her to work around it and make both work. So I emailed the teacher who coaches the grade 5-6 volleyball team and explained the situation. The teacher replied and said that most of the JK/SK teachers are willing to make extracurricular commitments work and rearrange schedules.

Armed with this knowledge, Rachel went to school yesterday with gym clothes and the plan to talk to the JK/SK teacher.

Rachel, with sadness, said, “Mrs. Teacher thought your were the other Rachel’s mom. There isn’t any space on the team for me.”

My heart broke.

Seriously?!?

She had a bit of a quiver in her voice. She was disappointed but for the most part she seemed okay with it. I had to walk away.

I emailed the teacher back and said that I was sorry for the confusion and that Rachel was looking forward to next year. The teacher came back with some blah-blah about commitment and if Rachel had talked to her mumbo-jumbo.

Exactly. Honouring commitments is exactly what my kid was doing. Rachel didn’t realise that she could have made arrangements to cover her initial commitments so that doing both was a possibility; we had to explain this to her. Too late though.

Rachel didn’t cry. She didn’t get angry. She didn’t rant and rave. She sucked it up and said “It’s ok, Mom.”

Again I walked away. I needed wine.

I gave Rachel the biggest hug imaginable and said that I was proud of how she reacted and that I know a lot of adults who could learn from her. I said to her that she’s not always going to get the answer she wants. “But you tell me ‘No’ all the time, Mom.” I continued to explain that many people in her life will tell her no. Many people won’t give her what she wants and if she’s able to learn from it and move on, that she’s going to be one amazing adult.

The child in me wants to email the teacher back in ALL CAPS and give her a piece of my mind.

Last week, Rachel’s class had a field trip to see the Hamilton Bulldogs play. Monday night, she came downstairs and she had a conversation with Craig:

“I have 2 questions.”

“Ok”

“Do you know where the blue camera is?”

“I think so.”

She paused.

“You might not like the second question. Don’t worry about it.”

“Wait. What’s the second question?”

“Can I take it to the hockey game with me?”

I had been in the kitchen, listening, but by this time I had wandered into Craig’s office.

I looked at Craig with the “I’m not so sure about this” look.

Craig and I started talking about the idea of her taking the camera. He thought this would be a good way for her to learn some responsibility. I said that I had my concerns.

Craig asked, “Should we talk about this alone?”

I said, “No, if she thinks that she is responsible enough to take the camera with her, then she needs to hear my concerns.”

We talked about: not putting it down, not passing it around between friends, how to hold it properly, what to do with it when she’s not using it, and other things that she would need to do to be responsible.

Then once she heard my concerns and said that she’d be responsible, I agreed to let her take it.

Big huge step.

I put my trust in her, so that she could earn my trust.

All day I worried and hoped.

Worried that she might lose it or break it.

Hoped that she would be the responsible girl that I know she can be.

She did it!

When she got home from school that day she was very excited to tell me all about the game. I asked her if she took a lot of photos. Excitedly, she told me what she took photos of and that she did everything we talked about. She even told her friends “no” when they asked to use it.

It is a wonderful feeling when you know that what you’re doing as a parent is working.

With each new challenge, I know that Craig, Rachel (eventually Lauren) and I can talk through a situation, and have a successful outcome!

With each new challenge, I know that I can step out of my safe comfort zone and have my awesome daughter show me how awesome she really is!

No, Rachel hasn’t hit puberty…yet. But it’s not that far away. Puberty can start as early as age 8 in girls! Now that she’s 9, we need to make sure that she’s ready for what is coming next.

Rachel and I have been part of a mother-daughter group for the last few years. There are 4 moms and 4 daughters (al of whom were born in 2004). It’s been a fun experience. We’re working on building our relationships with our daughters as they grow up.

Each chapter is focused on a topic that is relevant for the age that the girls are at. It starts at age 7 and works it’s way up through the teen years. Ages 7 and 8 focuses on the mother-daughter relationship and friendships. Now, at age 9, we’re looking at the changes that happen as the girls get older.

Ch-ch-changes

Recently, we a nice chat with the girls about the physical changes that will be happening to their bodies in the next few years. We talked about hair, body odor, hygiene routines and yes, periods.

I’m so glad I have these supportive women with me to share this experience with. It made the whole thing much more comfortable and we had a great conversation with the girls. It was just a mom telling her daughter what will happen. It was questions and answers. Feelings and emotions.

Click to see at Indigo.ca

We each purchased a copy of The Care And Keeping Of You (published by American Girl) for our daughter. During our chat, we pointed out a few diagrams that were in the book that illustrated exactly what we were talking about.

Continuing the conversation

Since our get-together with the moms, Rachel has been reading the book. I check in with her to see how it’s going. She is really enjoying the book and is getting a lot out of it.

Just yesterday she was telling me how women get properly fitted for bras: where they measure, what the measurements mean and she listed cup sizes. Only trouble is that she decided that she needed to tell me this as we waiting in line at Old Navy. Her confidence and comfort level with these topics will be good as she reaches each “milestone”.

By her talking about this so freely, I am encouraged that this might continue in to the future. I really want her to feel that she can come talk to me about anything!

(Now I need to get ready for the next big conversation – sex! Hopefully we can hold that off for another year or so!)

Do you remember that? I posted that on May 24, 2009. Lauren was just over 2 years old.

This was yesterday:

2 more stitches.

I told her that 4 in 4 years is plenty and I really don’t want to have to do this again!

And I think after the whole ordeal, she’ll remember what happened yesterday a lot more than what happened when she was 2.

9:00am

Craig got the call from the school office. Lauren got hurt on the playground from a swing and was cut pretty badly. They were concerned about the amount of bleeding and thought she might need to go to the hospital.

Craig was at Ontario Place in Toronto covering the Ken Block media event that was sponsored by Ford Canada so he wasn’t going to be able to leave. Craig called me to let me know what happened and that I needed to go immediately. I was part of a training exercise, but was able to quickly make arrangements for someone else to help out and I was on my way back to Oakville.

10:00am

I arrived at school to find Lauren with ice on her face and blood all over her clothes. The principal and vice principal told me what happened: She was pushing her stuffed bear on the swing and when the swing came back she wasn’t paying attention and it hit her in the face.

Off to the hospital we went. We got there about 10:20am. She was triaged by the triage nurse and doctor and then we were sent to the registration desk. Once she was checked in, we were told to go to the RAZ section.

10:30am

I just looked up what RAZ means: Rapid Assessment Zone. They need to rename that because that’s a big lie! We sat waiting for 2 hours before she got moved to a bed. She did surprisingly well while we waited. We talked about what was going to happen when she saw the doctor. I wanted her to be prepared and I couldn’t lie to her when she asked if it would hurt.

12:30pm

We were moved to a curtained-off bed so that we could wait some more. While waiting, I realized that we were in the exact same bed as the last time she got stitches.

Finally the doctor and nurse checked her out. He ruled out a head injury and then talked about her lip. We had 2 options: do nothing or stitch it up. “Nothing” would have left a big scar so we went with stitches.

I figured that giving her the needle to freeze her lip was a huge struggle, the actual stitches would be even harder. I was right. I held her down, the nurse held her head and the doctor stitched. The first one was the worst. While he was doing the 2nd one, the first one ripped out because she moved. After that one was in, he re-evaluated the location of the next stitch and only ended up needing 2 stitches.

2:00pm

We were walking out of the hospital and saw Craig. Because I didn’t have very good cell service, I couldn’t keep him as up-to-date as I wish that I could have. Lauren decided to drive home with him and I picked up popsicles.

She had ice cream and popsicles and watched TV until Rachel came home. The 2 of them played quietly until it was time to to go to choir. We wanted Lauren to stay home, but she’s so determined. It was good that she wanted to just pick up and keep going.

Lauren is spending today at home with Craig. We wanted to give her lip a chance to start healing a bit before she starts back into her regular routine.

Emotionally and physically tired, I am back at work. Yesterday’s events are still spinning through my head. It’s very hard to stay calm when you’re stressed and all you want to do is grab her, hold her and cry “My poor baby!” Plus the physical strength required to hold down a writhing, angry, scared 6 year old is more that I imagined.

Why “mapsgirl” ?

Wendy is a cartographer! She draws maps!

When not mapping, Wendy is also a mom to two daughters. They are the inspiration of this blog. Passionate about child passenger safety, Wendy has been a certified Car Seat Technician in Ontario, Canada since 2008. [Read More …]